The next edition of MetroFocus features an in-depth interview with New York Republican candidate for mayor Joe Lhota and excerpts from a recent conference called City Lab, sponsored by The Aspen Institute, The Atlantic magazine and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Both Democrat Bill de Blasio and Republican Lhota appeared on stage with Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the City Lab event. Bloomberg is still not endorsing anyone in the race to be his successor but in the interview with MetroFocus host Rafael Pi Roman, Lhota says he would welcome Bloomberg’s endorsement. “Early on in the campaign, I talked to him. Back in late January, early February he said he was not going to get involved in the primary and in fact, he would make his decision after the primaries. And he made his decision after the primary that he thought it was in everybody’s best interest to stay away from endorsing anyone one way or the other. Sure, I’d love to have his endorsement. But you know, the mayor’s a strong-willed person.” Lhota also tells Pi Roman he believes he will get his message out despite de Blasio’s massive lead in recent polls, saying “I believe I’m very, very different from Bill de Blasio. He does take at times what I consider to be very extremist points of view.”

In continuing coverage of the recovery from Hurricane Sandy, reporter Rick Karr visits the communities in the Rockaways where rebuilding is still underway and where residents are turning down offers from New York State to buy them out of their flood-prone homes. Karr introduces us to Kevin Boyle, editor of the local weekly paper “The Wave.” Boyle has become an advocate for Rockaways residents who are protesting FEMA’s decision to raise flood insurance rates and eliminate subsidies.

Author and staff writer for The New Yorker magazine George Packer joins Pi Roman to talk about his new book “The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America.” The book is on the long list for this year’s National Book Award for non-fiction and uses narratives from individuals across the country to document the changing economy. Packer tells Pi Roman the title refers to “…the end of a deal that used to exist among Americans that basically said, if you hold down a job, if you educate your kids, there’s a place for you in society…I think in the last generation that deal has come undone.”

And if it’s autumn, it’s time to tackle a corn maze. NJ Today’s Lauren Wanko shows us why the vast mazes, apple cider stands and hay rides are a part of agriculture in the garden state called “agri-tourism,” a significant source of income for farmers in the Garden State.

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Funders

MetroFocus is made possible by James and Merryl Tisch, Bernard and Irene Schwartz, Charlotte and David Ackert, Jody and John Arnhold, Rosalind P. Walter and the Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation. Corporate funding is provided by Mutual of America, your retirement company.